“Thunder signs Alex Reese to standard contract”

The thunder continue to report Alex Reese According to ESPN's Shams Charania (Twitter link), it's a standard contract with no guarantees. This step takes place in the course of Isaiah Hartenstein suffered a broken hand.

Reese previously had an Exhibit 10 contract with the Thunder and played limited minutes in three preseason games. Oklahoma City waived him on Wednesday, but he impressed enough in training camp to be considered as a backup while Hartenstein recovers from his injury and will likely be out for several weeks.

The 6-foot-11 Reese played college ball at Alabama from 2017-21 and averaged 5.4 points per game in his final season. He spent a year away from basketball, working primarily as a bartender, then signed with Luxembourg in 2022-23 before playing with the Trail Blazers' G League affiliate last season. He averaged 11.5 PPG on good shooting in '23-24 and impressed enough to earn a spot on the Thunder's training camp squad.

When the Thunder signed and waived Reese, the plan was likely for him to join OKC's G League affiliate. However, with Hartenstein out and a spot on the 15-man roster available, the opportunity opened up for Reese to add depth. Apart from Hartenstein and Reese, the only players on the Thunder's roster who are at least 1.90 meters tall are Jaylin Williams, Ousmane Dieng and signing of Annex 10 Malevy Leons.

The signing of Reese expands the Thunder's roster to 19 players. They have 15 players on standard contracts and three players on two-way contracts. Leons also occupies a spot in Exhibit 10 and the Thunder have until Monday to decide whether to convert him to a two-way contract or release him.

Signing Reese to a non-guaranteed contract suggests the Thunder may be moving through players in the back half of their roster or freeing up that spot later in the season for flexibility reasons. If he impresses, the Thunder can keep him around all year. It's also possible that Oklahoma City plans to develop him on a multi-year, non-guaranteed contract. As John Hollinger of The Athletic notes (Twitter link): If Reese is in Oklahoma City's long-term plans, they could sign him to a two-year deal with a team option for the second year and then decline that in favor of signing him to an affordable multi-year deal next offseason.